A whole lot happened in Greenwich High School’s varsity girls lacrosse team’s season-opener against host Pleasantville High School on April 7th.

Senior attack Giselle DiPietro scored her 100th career goal as a member of the Cardinals’ varsity squad in the team’s season-opening game and teammate Finley De Gennaro recorded her 100th career save in goal for Greenwich, which scored 15 goals in their back-and-forth, action-packed matchup against Pleasantville (N.Y.) High School.

Unfortunately for Greenwich, Pleasantville, one of the premier teams in Westchester County’s Section I, scored at a bit greater rate, especially toward the end of the third quarter to the middle of the fourth quarter when the hosts opened an eight-goal lead and wound up earning a 19–15 win over the Cardinals.

DiPietro, one of Greenwich’s four senior captains, scored six goals and added one assist against the Panthers. Needing three goals to reach a milestone, DiPietro reached her 100th career goal in the second quarter.

“It was a big day, 100 goals, but I give credit to my teammates, they work really hard, we always work really hard together,” DiPietro said, following Greenwich’s game versus Pleasantville. “It means a lot to do that, especially on a team that moves the ball and a lot of goals were assisted.”

Greenwich is coming off a 2025 season in which it qualified for both the FCIAC and CIAC Class LL tournaments. The sixth-seeded Cardinals won their first game of the Class LL Tournament one season ago, defeating Stamford, 17-5, then lost to third-seeded Wilton, 11-8, in the state quarterfinals. Makenna Warminsky begins her second season as head coach of the Cardinals and is impressed with what she is seeing from her squad.

“This team gets along very well together,” Warminsky said. “We are younger in our defense, we graduated some of our defenders from last year that were role players. We have some areas to improve, but overall, I think we’re playing really well together.”

Indeed, the highlights of the Cardinals’ matchup with the Panthers of Pleasantville were the two career milestones from DiPietro and De Gennaro.

“Giselle got her 100^th goal and Finley got her 100^th save, so we were excited to celebrate them this game,” Warminsky said.

Senior captain Dillon McFerran, who will also be relied upon heavily for production offensively, also scored six goals against Pleasantville, while Sophia DiPietro, Giselle’s twin sister, who is a captain as well, tallied twice.

“I think the outlook looks really good,” Sophia DiPietro said after the Cards’ matchup against the Panthers. “I know we lost this game, but there was so much potential that I saw and our team chemistry is amazing.”

As for seeing her sister, Giselle score her 100th career goal?

“I’m really happy for her,” Sophia said. “I was with her the whole time growing up, especially important for me to see her do that.”

Junior Lily Nogaki also had a stellar game on offense for GHS in its season-opener, producing one goal and two assists. Greenwich and Pleasantville were tied at 3-3 after the first quarter and the opening half ended with the teams knotted at 9-9.

The score was 11-11 late in the second quarter, then Pleasantville capitalized on a man-up situation, scoring four straight goals to end the third frame to seize a 15-11 advantage.

“I’m really excited for the season, we have great chemistry,” said Cardinals senior captain Lindsay Messer, who gathered three ground balls in the squad’s season-opening game. “There are a few kinks we need to work out and I feel like we’re going to do really well this season.”

Host Pleasantville was led by the trio of sophomore Julianna Karaqi, junior Faith Brown and senior Ella Collins. They teamed up to score the majority of the Panthers goals.

“We played a tough team, we knew that coming into it,” Warminsky noted. “I think it exposes some areas we need to work on. Girls lacrosse comes down to who wins the draw. When we had the draw we were able to keep possession, when they had the draw they kept it. The more you possess the ball, the better chance you have to win.”

Pleasantville took an 8-5 edge on Greenwich after Collins scored her 100th career goal with 2:55 remaining in the second quarter. But the Cardinals received goals from Sophia DiPietro, McFerran, Giselle DiPietro and McFerran again to knot the score at 9-9. McFerran’s tally came with 15.3 seconds to go in the second stanza.

“It’s our first game, there’s a lot to improve on,” said Giselle DiPietro, a four-season varsity standout. “I think our offense is solid, the draw and defense, we need to continue to grow in that. It’s only our first game and we’re looking at a successful season.”

Goals from Karaqi and Brown gave Pleasantville an 11-9 lead early in the third quarter, then GHS posted two straight tallies to even the score again. Sophia DiPietro scored off a pass from Nogaki at the 6:46 mark of the third quarter, then McFerran notched a goal with 2:48 to go in the quarter, making it 11-11. Karaqi and Brown each scored, beginning the Panthers’ run of seven consecutive goals, as the home team prevailed in this out-of-state matchup.

“I think we did a really good job of moving the ball around and executing our plays, but I think we’re going to keep working on the draw and then the defense,” McFerran said. “But overall, I think we did a good job of moving it and everyone contributed.”

Junior Annabelle De Gennaro collected three ground balls and her twin sister Finley De Gennaro made a number of saves in goal for the Cardinals, including of course, her 100th career save. Junior Claire Campinell gathered two ground balls for the Cards in their season-opening matchup.

“Our communication got down and we came out flat, which has been our issue in the past,” Messer noted. “So, we need to come out motivated and strong.”

Greenwich visited non-conference foe Simsbury today (April 9th) and was edged, 13-10. The Cardinals will visit Rye Country Day School, before playing their first FCIAC opponent – Fairfield Warde on April 14th. The first home game for Greenwich isn’t until April 22nd.

“I would like us to have a winning record and be higher ranked in the FCIAC overall and be a better through in FCIACs and the CIAC as a whole,” Warminstky said.

Here’s some more pictures from Greenwich’s road game versus Pleasantville.

Below are pictures of Greenwich’s junior varsity lacrosse team against Pleasantville High School.